With Every Breath (Slow Burn #4) - Maya Banks Page 0,1

still held tightly over her mouth. “He’ll kill again. He thinks he’s invincible, that he’s God, and him beating the system just proves his superiority in his mind.”

“He’ll want revenge, Miss Caldwell,” the DA said quietly. “He’ll come after you. I had to call and warn you.”

“I hope to hell he does,” she said savagely.

But even as she spoke, she shook her head, her thoughts in chaos as she attempted to sort through her horror. No. Fuck that. To hell with running, hiding, all the things Thomas would expect her to do. He’d expect to find that same sixteen-year-old timid girl so desperate for love and acceptance.

No, she wasn’t running. She would go after him. She would make it damn easy for him to find her because she would be waiting when he was released in prison. And then she’d take him down and send him to hell where he belonged.

Alarm sounded in the DA’s voice. “Miss Caldwell, don’t do anything you’ll regret. I called you because you had the right to know and so you could take protective measures and heed caution.”

“I can assure you, Mr. Barksdale, my only regret is that I didn’t take him out the first time,” she said in an ice-cold tone. Steely determination gripped her. She was infused with purpose. A goal. One she would not fail in.

As she quietly disconnected the call, her nostrils flared and she embraced the frigid chill that had invaded her limbs the second the DA had announced the reason for his call. She had to lock down her rioting emotions or she’d go insane with grief—and guilt.

Her eyes closed and her head lowered, so much anguish threatening to overwhelm her. She shook her head vehemently, refusing to give in to despair. The justice system had utterly failed Thomas Harrington’s victims. It had failed her.

No one knew Thomas like she did. No one knew of his enormous power and how so very easily he could enthrall his victims. There was nothing left but for her to seek justice and to protect the only people in the world who mattered to her. The only people she had allowed herself to get close to in the ten years since she’d put the man she’d loved with all the innocence of a teenaged girl away for what she thought had been for good.

Only now he would be set free, and it was up to her to ensure that he would claim no further victims. Even if it meant being consigned to hell right along with him.

She should have killed him, but she’d naïvely believed in the system and that he would pay for his crimes. Now, she knew better, and unless she stopped him, he’d kill and keep killing.

TWO

“ALL set?” Wade Sterling asked his good friend, perhaps his only friend, Anna-Grace Covington.

Wade the quintessential lone wolf. He shunned personal relationships of any kind and he had little time for friends. Having a friend meant a level of trust he simply wasn’t able to give another person. Blind faith wasn’t what had made him the ruthless, successful businessman he’d become.

But his own self-imposed rules had simply disappeared when he’d met Anna-Grace. True, at first, he’d been interested in her on a more personal level, but he’d quickly discovered that the vulnerable, fragile woman had suffered unimaginable tragedy and a relationship—any kind of romantic or sexual relationship—with a man was the last thing she needed or wanted.

As a result, surprised by the true affection he’d felt for her, they’d instead become close friends, and he had become her only confidant.

Anna-Grace, or Gracie as most people called her, though Wade had always known—and addressed—her by her full name until recent months, stared anxiously at the array of paintings that were displayed to their best advantage.

Wade slipped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Everyone is going to love you.” Then, to distract her from her panic, he asked, “Did Cheryl arrange everything to your liking?”

Gracie nodded though she still pensively studied her artwork and she looked very much like she wanted to vomit. Wade sighed. He turned to Gracie and collected her hands in his.

“Honey, do you think I would display just anyone in my gallery? I know you think the studio is a side interest of mine that I pay little or no attention to, but I have a great deal of time and money invested in this place and before you suggest that our friendship is why I’m holding